Death on the Nile

Rating: *****

One of my favorite Christie novels: intense, emotional and moving, from start to finish, I'm involved one hundred percent in the story. I've re-read the mystery more times than I can count and yet every time I pick it up, I'm engrossed. The twists and turns, the character portrayals, the happy and unhappy endings, all go towards making this book one of Agatha Christie's best.

OK, I'm over-selling it.........that way you'll pick it up and think WTH? I thought this was supposed to be awesome! Moving on to the summary.....

Jackie's honeymoon doesn't end up as she had planned - especially since she's not even on it! Things take an unexpected turn when her fiance falls for her best friend, the young, rich and beautiful Linnet Ridgeway. Jackie is convinced that Linnet went all out for Simon and didn't give a thought to their friendship, and her revenge is simple: follow Linnet everywhere on her honeymoon. Be the thorn in the new couple's happiness. But would she commit murder? It looks like it when Linnet is found murdered - shot through the head. Simon is convinced of Jackie's innocence and it seems he is right. Jackie simply couldn't have done it. But then, who else has a grudge against the young heiress?

Simon is oblivious, but lucky for him, Poirot happens to be on the same cruise and has formed opinions of his own. Can it be that Linnet was murdered, not for love and revenge, but for her money? The suspects on the boat increase with this new motive and Poirot has his work cut out for him. Luckily he meets an old friend, Colonel Race, who is on board for a secret mission of his own. With plenty of motives to go around, the truth stays pretty well hidden.

Some thoughts
The murder was very well planned - but that wasn't what kept me interested. It's the play of all the characters involved and the emotional drama that keeps you hooked. Jackie and Linnet may hold center stage, but there are plenty of other interesting characters who manage to attract attention.

Sparkling Cyanide

Rating: ***

It has been one year since Rosemary's death. One long year in which her husband George Barton, her sister Iris, her lover Stephen Farraday and his wife Sandra, George's secretary Ruth Lessing, and finally attractive and charming Anthony Browne, have had time to obsess and hold on to their secrets and feelings towards Rosemary's suicide.

But was it suicide?! The shocking idea awakens everyone from a stupor and brings the idea of murder into the forefront. Surely there was something odd about Rosemary's suicide? Depression was too weak a motive for someone so vivacious and full of life. Iris for one, has begun to doubt once her brother-in-law and guardian shows her anonymous letters which question the suicide. George intends to recreate the fatal dinner. With the other guests skeptical, things become serious when George gives a toast to Iris's health, takes a sip of champagne, and dies choking on the table.......

With a murder committed the authorities have no choice but to look deeper into the circumstances of Rosemary's death. Secrets are bound to come out and someone might do anything to keep that from happening. At one point, it seems everyone at the table that night had a secret..but who is guilty? Iris hopes not Anthony Browne..........

Some thoughts
The characters were pretty charming. OK, I'm only thinking about Anthony Browne! The murder takes place in the fast set and the police have to sift through a lot of controversies, affairs, and jealousies. The rich and entitled it seems, are not so different from the rest of us.

In Sparkling Cyanide, also known as Remembered Death, we see one of Christie's frequently appearing characters, Colonel Race. Colonel Race mostly appears as a side detective alongside the more popular Hercule Poirot or Superintendent Battle, but in this case, he is the lead sleuth assisting the police.

The novel is slightly reminiscent of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in that all six suspects on Rosemary's death reveal their feelings, in a separate chapter, of the night of the death - only one of them is the murderer and is not revealing all the facts. The novel also has the same plot as Christie's previous short story titled Yellow Iris. The novel in itself is well written and interesting, but it has the same tricks we see in all the other novels: the preconceived idea of the murder, everybody-has-a-motive type of case, and finally the illusion to make us think that the second murder was a direct result of the first - it is all cleverly planned, but has been done so often before that a seasoned Agatha Christie reader should pick up on it at once.

Cards on the Table

Rating: ****

Mr. Shaitana is no ordinary personality. He is a collector. Approaching Poirot one day, the Mephistopheles-like character invites him to a dinner party in which he will show case his unique collection - a collection of murderers; those murderers who have gotten away with their crimes.

Four crime experts; four supposed criminals; that is Mr. Shaitana's idea of a dinner party. Hercule Poirot meets Mrs. Oliver, the celebrated detective writer, Colonel Race, a Secret Service Agent, and Superintendent Battle from the Scotland Yard, all representatives of law and order. The other mysterious guests include murderers Dr. Roberts, Mrs. Lorrimer, Miss Anne Meredith, and Major Despard. At the end of a game of bridge, the crime experts come to take their leave of Mr. Shaitana, only to find him murdered. The only four in the room with Mr. Shaitana were the other four guests playing bridge. It is up to the others to find the murderer from within the murderers.

Some thoughts
The interesting thing about this case was that the authorities had absolutely no evidence to go upon. The deduction had to be purely psychological and Hercule Poirot is the king of psychology. The motive is obviously a previous murder that one of the guests thought Mr. Shaitana had discovered. Poirot reveals the purpose of the party to his law-enforcement friends and now they must discover the guests' previous murders as well as Mr. Shaitana's murderer.

This case also has the interesting feature of including four of Agatha Christie's most famous characters: Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, Ariadne Oliver and of course Hercule Poirot. Each have starred in other novels but this is the only time when they all come together.

I was so tempted to rate this five stars. The only reason I didn't, was, that although the case was one of the best (even better than some five stars), none of the characters really moved me. It was psychologically intriguing but the story was not as touching as it was in Murder on the Orient Express or Death Comes as the End. But as I said, I'm tempted........